Stuff You Need to Know About Arthritis

“I’ve got some arthritis in my spine but it’s just normal aging.” some will say.

“Hogwash!”, I say. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this statement in response to arthritis in the neck or lower back. The incongruity of this statement is that some joints look good while others have arthritis. How can this be due to normal aging when both the good and the bad are the same age? Impossible! This kind of arthritis, osteoarthritis, is due primarily to joint dysfunction. Here are some things you ought to know about arthritis

It often doesn’t hurt – About 70% of the time, there is no pain with arthritis.

It gets worse over time – Because it’s a degenerative condition, if the joint dysfunction isn’t corrected, time will make it get worse. Arthritis is common but it’s definitely not normal.

Arthritis does damage nerves – The joint damage also includes the thousands of nerve endings in the joints. Without these nerve endings your joints decay faster.

Drugs make it worse – The drugs people take to make them feel better actually eat away at the cartilage making it worse in the long run. These kinds of drugs are called NSAIDs and include Ibuprofen, Aspirin, and Advil.